In March, hundreds of seasonal workers marched on the billion-dollar multinational fruit company Fyffes plc to deliver a petition signed by more than 1000 melon farm workers demanding their international labor rights, including their right to form their own independent union. 

The workers – who are majority women– have been organizing for many years with the independent farmworker union El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares (STAS). They have called for Fyffes, a leading exporter of fruit to the United States and Europe, to resume negotiations for a binding agreement to protect workers’ international labor rights. STAS is affiliated to the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers (IUF) and working in close partnership with Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) to hold this transnational fruit company accountable in the US where the majority of the melons picked in Honduras are sold. 

Workers say they need a union at Fyffes that will enable them to protect their health and safety on the job, bargain for fair wages, and create job security. 

Last year Fyffes, whose farms are named as an emblematic case of labor violations in a complaint filed through the labor chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), cut off negotiations with STAS after years of discussion, showing a deep disrespect for labor. The workers started organizing in 2016 to fight back against rampant wage theft, child labor, gender discrimination and exposure to dangerous chemicals. Fyffes seasonally employs upward of 5,000 pickers in Honduras and the impact of its abuse– especially on women workers– is emblematic of some of the root causes of migration from the region. Fyffes failure to offer decent work has driven many workers to seek jobs in the US. Despite the long years of participation in the CAFTA process workers continue to see migration as among their best options given they have not been able to win a voice at work or create significant enough improvements to their material conditions. 

The largely female workforce is calling on Fyffes to sign an international labor rights agreement that recognizes their right to form an independent union and negotiate fair conditions and pay. 

Fyffes Workers Speak Out:

“This year we’ve had to work even longer days and cover almost double the harvest area than before. We are bent over in the oppressive heat all day long and we still make so little that it’s hard to feed our families. We are fighting today to tell the company loud and clear: sign the agreement to respect our rights as workers and as human beings,” said Kelyn Estrada, a 26-year-old single mother of two who has worked in the melons for the last six seasons.

“We need an independent union so we can work with dignity and safety and support our families,” said Santos Felipa Salinas. “I have worked in the melon plantations of Fyffes since I was fourteen years old. For 26 years I’ve given my labor to this company but this year I was locked out of work and had no way to support my family. I was so desperate I decided to try to cross the border and go to the United States but I didn’t make it, so now I’m here to fight to move my family forward.” 

More resources: 

• For additional background on the workers’ efforts at Fyffes see: https://globallaborjustice.org/fairness-at-fyffes/ 
• To hear workers speak about why they are organizing: https://youtu.be/a8TZcyeYx-E
• Read the report: FYFFES FARMS EXPOSED: https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/docs/FyffesHondurasReport.pdf